Week 2 Reflections with Design Thinking
When week 2 came around, there were many events and continued discovery on projects that I stopped blogging. The whole month went by so fast and I was mostly unplugged the two weeks after. I am now back in the US (missing Australia), but when I started the drafts of this and other posts on my phone it was throughout my vacation time after the Corporate Service Corps assignment. This one started while I was in the beautiful Port Douglas, Queensland.
Week 2 with Royal Flying Doctors Service
After a week of exploratory discussions, our project scope was reviewed and signed Monday afternoon. The team narrowed our research down to reviewing how data (priority being on primary care health data) is collected and used at RFDS and to make recommendations to enhance the processes in place to help business operations and decisions.
RFDS is made up of seven sections: six states/terrirorites and one federation. The software and data analytics infrastructure vary and are independent because each section has different needs and requirements. Understanding this, the question is how can data be collected that benefits the needs of all?
With the two weeks we’ve had so far, the team has talked to a few of the sections with plans to schedule with others in week 3. My team does this in tandem with the other sub-group at RFDS, that is researching new telehealth technologies.
Through conversations, the IBM team found that a Design Thinking Session would be useful for RFDS Queensland. The problem statement focused on the use of data and identifying additional metrics to create value.
Design Thinking Session with RFDS Queensland
I have only done these sessions internally or with middle school students, so I was excited to be part and assist my first “client facing” Design Thinking Session. Anne McNeill facilitated and led the session while members of the IBM CSC team were divided among the sub-groups of RFDS.
The sub-teams were intentionally created to have a range of roles at each table, so working with table (above) including Samir, it was interesting to see how each person started seeing how data was used in various responsibilities of different stakeholders. One of the exercises of design thinking was to link and group how people and the use of their data was related.
Time did not allow to do all the complete Design Thinking experience, so we focused on:
(1) Identifying Personas — Creation of an “imaginary” character of abstract traits that would be a user of the data.
(2) Stakeholder Mapping — Naming all people involved with data that “touches” RFDS data and linking them all together.
(3) Needs Statements — A “fill in the blank” statement about each user, how data address their needs, and why it is beneficial.
RFDS was provided the resources to continue their Design Thinking journey.
The workshop was broken down to two half days on Thursday and Friday, as Friday afternoon’s session time was up, people wanted to continue with discussions! It was fantastic to help facilitate these and to hear feedback on it’s impact. Although not in the original scope, the Design Thinking workshop did pose some quality questions that hopefully will take a long term effect.
Week 2 dates were Aug 13–17th, 2018.
